Matrilineal Line: Navigating Year Sixty-Five
On the left is my grandmother Bootsie, on the right my mother Joanne, a photo taken years before I was born.
And this is from page 1 of my work in progress:
“The December solstice, to my way of thinking, marks the beginning of the new year more significantly than January 1, and the year ahead feels daunting. Three-quarters of the way into it, just before the autumn equinox, I’ll turn sixty-five—officially old—a reality that can wake me startled and disoriented from dreams in which I’m so much younger. More than that, though. Before the earth completes its current circle around the sun, my sister will reach the age our mom was when she died, and I’ll reach the age of our grandmother, no images from there on out on the matrilineal line.”
In the photo below, that’s me on my mother's lap, with my sister Layne to the right and Tommy to the left. Below that, the two of us with our father.
And this is from page 1 of my work in progress:
“The December solstice, to my way of thinking, marks the beginning of the new year more significantly than January 1, and the year ahead feels daunting. Three-quarters of the way into it, just before the autumn equinox, I’ll turn sixty-five—officially old—a reality that can wake me startled and disoriented from dreams in which I’m so much younger. More than that, though. Before the earth completes its current circle around the sun, my sister will reach the age our mom was when she died, and I’ll reach the age of our grandmother, no images from there on out on the matrilineal line.”
In the photo below, that’s me on my mother's lap, with my sister Layne to the right and Tommy to the left. Below that, the two of us with our father.
Matrilineal Line explores the stories of families within families—love, alcoholism, expatriatism as escape, mysteries, secrecy, way too many instances of unforeseen death—from the perspective a pivotal year. I’ll be updating this page, as the year unfolds.
